What property features would you never have again?

[AnxiousRose]

What features from your current or previous property would you avoid if you were househunting again?

For me, it is three storeys. I had this in my last house and did not expect to dislike it as much as I did. My bedroom was on the top floor and I hated all the stairs especially with young kids. Three storeys usually means the downstairs space is small for the number of bedrooms.

Huge double ended spa bath! Whilst it might be the idea of luxury to some, being on the small side it was difficult for me to use as I kept floating. Only way to stop was to use hardly any water! Its now been dumped.

I disliked when we had a dining area as part of the living room (no space for big table in kitchen) as felt like we were always living in one room. I love our conservatory (came with the house) - no where better for an afternoon snooze in the summer!

@Happyaslarry24 I presume if you are getting a house built it has a number of bedrooms? Would you make one an ensuite if not yours? Would be good for guests and I get the architect here - your resale value will really fall without an ensuite.

neighbours, I am sure that the house on the left side of mine has some sort of curse, each lot of neighbours has been even worse than the preceding ones. The latest hellish lot have either done a flit (am praying this is the case) or gone away for a while and the difference to my mental health is astonishing. No noise, no endless visitors, no rubbish piled high in the yard. I hope they are gone for good

I rent (rather than own), but I wouldn't want:
-small kitchen
-only one reception room (i.e. only a living room)...unless kitchen was big enough to comfortably fit a dining table in.
-just one WC/bathroom in the house
-on street parking
-open plan downstairs (unless well ventilated and really spacious).
-sloped garden

The place I rent has a tiny kitchen, only one bathroom/WC (which is downstairs - but I'd rather the only bathroom/WC be downstairs), one small reception room (living room, which doesn't properly fit a table for eating at) and a sloped garden. Still, I can afford it on my own and I'm glad to live here!!

This for me too. We're back on with the DIY as we're looking to sell but every single job unearths two more, the time it takes to do something simple just spirals. Trying to get someone in to do work is a pain because most good tradesmen can pick and choose what they do and they don't want to be stuck with a never ending job.

I'd never get another terraced house. The road outside is too busy, DC can't really play out there. Parking spaces are always limited. Can hear the neighbours. There are no gardens. I've lived in this street for 15 years and looking at houses a bit further out of town made me realise how much I miss having green space to look out onto.

White painted weatherboard on a listed house. It looks lovely but it is really hard work to maintain and the quotes to repaint it are c£15k. Guess who has spent every non-work hour of the summer on scaffolding with a paintbrush in hand …
I'm done with old and listed too after 20 years.

We viewed a house where the boxroom had been converted to a bathroom. The bath was a giant circular affair placed on a plinth! I was totalling stunned by it, in a sort of humourous way. It was so big the whole family could have sat in it. Needless to say we didn't buy the house. I could even think how it had got into the property.

Definitely the surplus of windows. 18 here, and very few are of a standard size, so curtains and blinds are expensive and time consuming to sort as they need to be made or altered.

A walk-in pantry that has the central heating pipes running under the floor. It's the warmest spot in the house, so we use it for all kinds of things except food. That gets crammed into the kitchen cabinets.

A fairly steep drive, with no obvious place to put any kind of rail or random shrubs to hang onto. I've had some fantastic technicolored bruises from falling over on ice or snow, and we need to keep it gritted.

Old. Expensive. In need of renovation.
We've just moved into a modern 3 bed home with two living areas. Nothing to do. Small courtyard garden. Reasonably small mortgage. Garage. Store room. Laundry. Lots of built in storage.
It's so easy. OK it's not quirky or full of character, it's just a normal functional house, but after building and renovating and waiting for a renovation to finish, I'm done.

That's interesting, why not a pond?

We've decided to put one in part of our garden next year.

Oh interesting comments re:decking . would love thoughts on alternatives for a balcony. We have just bought a house where the height of the garden drops down so we have basement under the back half of the house meaning you enter on the ground floor but both the kitchen and the living room have patio doors (currently locked!) with a 2 metre drop and we want to add a balcony, was thinking raised decking but this thread has put me off a bit!! Does anyone have any alternative suggestions?

Velum windows in the bedroom. The pitterpatter of gentle rain might be soothing, but a downpour at 3am wakes you with the hammering of rain and stops you going back to sleep.

An old house, twice! This one has been an absolute money pit. It's still not done after nearly 20 years. We should have stretched ourselves in the mid-90s and bought a modern home instead of buying two, old fixer-uppers.

This one is on a long main road that leads to a main hospital ambulances siren in the day, cars race along it at night. No-one lets me back out onto it in rush hour.

I want to go back in time, take off the rose-tinted glasses that only saw potential, and show the advantages of quieter, modern housing estates.

The things I've had that would never accept again include:
Having a single bathroom located through the kitchen;
no drive and limited on-street parking;
being near a railway;
a maisonette with a separate garden;

Decking. Absolutely awful stuff. Can't beat a proper patio.

Can't stand stairs off the living room. The heat just disappears.
A window that looks onto a wall.
A living room that doesn't have a south facing window.
Not having a utility room (hate dirty clothes & food in the same place).
A bath without a shower attachment.
Tiny sinks that splash on you.
Not enough bathroom storage.
Attic bedroom, can't fit furniture in & bang head.
No space for a dishwasher.
No space for a vented tumble dryer.
Not enough sockets.
Not enough storage cupboards esp near the door for coats/ shoes.
Damp.

Open plan, conservatory.........just put our house on the market to get rid of the first one!

Couldn’t agree more. Passivhaus all the way!!! Those Germans and Scandinavians have been building QUALITY Passivhaus homes for 20+ years. The U.K. is so far behind.

Yes, we have an extractor fan and no issues.

'original to the house' brings me out in cold sweat when uttered by a builder brought in to fix a leaky this or that...

Listed property or even in a conservation area.
Having to deal with bureaucracy for Every. Tiny. Thing. Is beyond ridiculous and seems to attract the most jobsworthy type of council employee.

We do have one en-suite in our house but we don't sleep in that bedroom. It's in a bedroom that doesn't get used very much except as a guest bedroom when we have friends staying.

It just provides a bit of privacy for them.

In my ideal house there would be a guest room with an en-suite on the ground floor.

My DP DETESTS en-suite bathrooms 😂 “why would I want a toilet in my bedroom” he mutters grumpily whenever they come up.

I get it, although I’m less energised about it. I’d also never do a poo in an en-suite bathroom if someone was in the bedroom. Feels very rude.

We’re in the process of buying a house to renovate (and ultimately sell) and he is grudgingly agreeing to en-suites because it’s commercial. He’s very grumpy about it though!